An album more delicate and elegant than destructive and abrasive, Varaha is a somber release that struck a chord with many of us here at Dead Rhetoric. An entirely immersive experience that is more about the mood and nuance than anything else, the album’s 68-minute runtime finds a way to keep the listener compelled to the gloomy (and occasionally more intense) atmosphere with potent melodies and well-constructed songwriting that manages to stay unique in tone. Its also the reason that it won’t be long before the band starts vying for the title of rainy day champs along with some of the bigger acts in the field.
An excerpt from David E. Gehlke’s 8.5/10 review, which posted on May 29, 2019:
We were quick to salute and salivate over Varaha’s 2016 self-released and self-titled EP. As one of the few American bands with a quick grip on dark metal (whatever that accounts for these days), the Chicago-based troupe presented a musical front that relied on spatial melodies and an atmospheric hum that could not be traced back to any one band.
A Passage for Lost Years is jam-packed and includes a handful of interludes, all with the aim of creating a sonic journey rather than a bunch of songs stacked together on an album. It’s this kind of care, thought and dare we say, risk-taking that makes Varaha such an appealing entity. An album of class and sophistication, A Passage for Lost Years is dark metal art of the highest quality.
Read the entire review HERE